Judge in Virginia prison sex materials case dies

RADFORD, Va. (AP) — U.S. District Judge James Turk, who struck down a Virginia policy that allowed prisoners to look at Playboy but not read classical works of literature with explicit sexual passages, died Sunday. He was 91.

Turk, a state senator for more than a decade, died at his home in Radford, according to De Vilbiss Funeral Home.

Turk was appointed to the U.S. District Court's Western District of Virginia by President Richard Nixon in 1972 and became a senior judge in 2002. He never retired, continuing to work on notable cases throughout his final years.

"For 40 years, Judge Turk worked tirelessly to ensure that the federal judicial system in this district was fair and unbiased," United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said in a statement. "His tradition of shaking hands with defendants after their cases concluded was a perfect manifestation of his essential humanity and his ability to recognize the good in all people, regardless of circumstance."

Advertisement

In the prison literature case, an inmate sued after he was denied access to the novels "Ulysses" by James Joyce and "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence. Prison officials had argued that those sexually explicit materials were "considered valuable currency and used in bartering" by inmates, and that the possession of such items could lead to theft and fights.

The judge disagreed.

"Particularly with respect to 'Ulysses' it is impossible to even imagine prison inmates fighting for the chance to delve into the incredibly difficult to decipher novel, one metaphor-laden scene of which portrays exhibitionist behavior and masturbation," Turk wrote.

In another case, Turk dismissed a lawsuit in 2011 filed by a Virginia inmate who wanted the state to pay for a sex-change operation. A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sent the case back to Turk in 2013, saying Ophelia De'Lonta's case was entitled to a full hearing.

Turk ruled that the prison system was adequately treating her by providing counseling and hormone treatments and allowed her to dress as a woman in a men's prison. She was paroled earlier this year.

Turk served in the Virginia Senate from 1959 to 1972. He was an Army veteran and a graduate of Roanoke College and Washington & Lee University's School of Law.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said in a statement that Turk was an "outstanding jurist."

"His judicial temperament was a near perfect example of what all judges should aspire to - diligent, intelligent, compassionate, professional, decisive. I had the fortune to practice before him on occasion and I became a better lawyer as a result," Kaine said.